Only the Lonely
by BlueNBlackNeko
Summary: Once again, Kakashi has lost someone close to him, his dear teammate Obito, and Minato has noticed how depressed his student has become and in an effort to ease his pain, he has Kakashi take care of a boy sheltered from the village his whole life. A Kaka/Yama.
1. Chapter 1

Minato stood quietly in front of Sandaime with his request. The Hokage smiled, "Yes, I believe it's a brilliant idea. However, I'm not sure if the council will approve, for as you know, they like to keep the boy as much in the dark as possible."

Minato nodded and sighed, "I know. But how much longer are they going to hide him from society, eventually he'll grow up, and eventually, he'll find a way to leave."

The third nodded in agreement, "I shall call the council together, and I'll inform you of their decision later. You may go now."

With that Minato used his teleportation jutsu and was gone.

Kakashi and Rin both stood in front of Obito's memorial. It had been a week since his best friend's death. Kakashi sighed: _Why? Why did you leave…Obito? Why did you save me?_

Rin still cried, still torn over the fact that Obito loved her. She wished she'd known sooner. They stared down at their old teammate's name engraved in the black stone. Suddenly they heard a poof next to them, it was Minato-sensei. He frowned, seeing his students in this state depressed him. Rin wiped away her tears and attempted to smile at him, "Hello Minato-sensei."

He smiled back, "Hey guys, anyone up for a mission today?" trying to lighten the rather depressed mood about his remaining students. Kakashi shrugged, "It sounds fine sensei," he was trying to hide the pain inside of him.

"Great, let's go."

Several hours later.

"Sensei, didn't you say this was a B-rank mission?" Kakashi began as he glared at the piece of trash that floated down the river by his feet. This had to be a joke. He could just hear Obito whining about the mission. Of course, once again, the sadness of his friend's death came back to him.

"Kakashi, it's not healthy being on B and A rank missions all the time," Minato replied.

Kakashi glowered but kept on picking up the trash from the river. A while later a messenger hawk landed on Minato's shoulder. He took the scroll off and read it, "Kakashi, we're being summoned by the Hokage. Rin, you're relieved of duty, you can go home now." Rin nodded and smiled to Kakashi, "See you later."

"Kakashi, I'm assigning you to a S-rank mission, I want you to take care of someone."

_So you mean I have to babysit._ He sulked, "How is that an S-rank mission?"

The Hokage motioned to Minato who opened the door and let someone in. A boy about ten years old wearing a t-shirt and shorts and a faceplate like the second Hokage's came in.

"Tenzou is a chuunin, an orphan, take care of him Kakashi."

Kakashi stared in disbelief, "You want me to babysit him? Can't he take care of himself; I did when I was his age."

Sandaime only smiled, "You both suffer from loneliness; perhaps you'll be able to comfort each other. Misery loves company."

Kakashi couldn't say no to a mission, however, he didn't want to be a babysitter. Minato walked up to Kakashi, "Just try it." Kakashi sighed, "Alright, fine."

As they left, Kakashi turned on his heel to survey Tenzou a little more closely. He had big, brown, almond-shaped eyes. His hair was a darker shade of brown. He sighed as they continued to stare at each other, neither of them breaking the silence.

_Why? Why do I have to babysit this kid?_ He sighed, he had no choice though in the matter. Finally he retreated to his apartment, "Do you want anything to eat?"

Tenzou swallowed shyly, "Umm…no thank you."

Kakashi shrugged and took out a spare mattress from from his closet and put it down on the ground, then took a pillow and a heavy blanket, "You can sleep here."

After that Kakashi made dinner for himself. He didn't know what to do with the boy. The boy was looking around at his rather boring looking apartment, but was careful not to touch anything. He was so shy. Oh well, Kakashi liked shy. He decided he ought to at least try and make conversation with the new visitor in his house, "You're a chuunin, right?"

Tenzou nodded slowly, Kakashi was never good at initiating conversation and he always felt like he was butting in someone's business when he tried to talk to them. He continued anyways, "When did you become one?"

"Four years ago."

Kakashi smiled, "You must be talented, I was six too when I became a chuunin."

After a while they went to bed. Kakashi rolled onto his bed and then spotted the picture of his team and Obito. He sighed and slowly, he fell asleep.

"Get away! No please, go away! Go away!Ah!"

Kakashi woke with a start to the screaming and yelling. Slightly disorientated, he looked around in attempt to figure out the source of the yelling. He found it beneath his feet. Tenzou was shaking and sweating uncontrollably in his bed.

"Tenzou!" he crouched down and attempted to wake the boy out of his nightmare, "Tenzou, wake up! WAKE UP!"

Slowly, the boy's almond shaped eyes opened. He was still shaking and sweating in Kakashi's arms.

"W-what h-h-happened?" Tenzou stuttered.

"You were having a nightmare."

"Oh," he responded as though that sort of thing happened rather often. Kakashi wondered what could be hidden in the boy's pas that would cause him to have such severe nightmares. He sighed, deciding that if Tenzou ever wanted to tell him he would.

He detached himself from the boy as soon as the shaking stopped. The boy sat up rubbing his stomach a little.

"You must be hungry. Let me get you something to eat."

He got up and walked off to the kitchen. After hearing the rattling of several pans, Tenzou watched him come back. He suddenly felt guilty for waking Kakashi like that, "No, it's fine. I'm not very hungry."

His stomach seemed to think otherwise and rumbled. Kakashi smiled in amusement and chuckled, "Sounds like your stomach says otherwise."

Tenzou blushed a little and Kakashi sat down next to him.

"Sorry, about that," Tenzou said, a few moments later.

Kakashi shook his head, "Don't apologize, I understand, I used to have nightmares too. I'll help you get rid of them." He put his hand on Tenzou's shoulder. Just then they smelled something awful. Like something was burning. Kakashi's eye seemed to widen three times its regular size, "Oh shit!" he ran to the kitchen followed by Tenzou, and sure enough, the fuood had burned and much worse was the fire near the bottom of the pan. Kakashi was busy trying to find the fire extinguisher when Tenzou made a few hand seals and quickly the flames were extinguished by water soaked wood. Kakashi could only stare. He had just found the fire extinguisher when this happened. Now he put it down and examined the slightly charred wood as it suppressed the flames. Then he looked at Tenzou. _How can he use wood-style? I thought that was a kekkei genkei that only the first possessed,_ Kakashi thought. Suddenly Tenzou realized what he'd done and quickly retracted the wood. He sighed miserably and left the kitchen. Kakashi had many questions that he knew would most likely go unanswered, so he didn't even bother pursuing them. Instead he threw the burnt pot into the trash and followed Tenzou out to living room.

"Aw, don't be so downhearted, Tenzou, we'll just have to find something else to eat, that's all. Here why don't we go to Ichiraku, I haven't had ramen in a while."

Tenzou still downhearted looked at the clock above Kakashi's bed, "I don't think there are any restaurants open at two in the morning."

Kakashi blinked, _well there went that idea_. He went back to the kitchen and took out a cup ramen and a piece of bread, smearing some butter on it. Tenzou meanwhile wondered what happened to Kakashi and whether he was mad at him. He lay down miserably onto his bed and stared at the ceiling.

But just as he was about to fall asleep again, someone tapped him on his head. He opened his eyes to find Kakashi grinning at him behind his mask.

"It's not exactly the best food, but I figure it'll do," and he handed the boy a Cup Noodle.

"I thought you gave up with dinner after it was burned," Tenzou said.

"You need to eat something; I'm not going to just let you starve to death you know."

After a few minutes of eating in silence, Tenzou looked up again, "Sorry about the burned food."

Kakashi laughed, "Tenzou, there's no need to apologize, after all you are the one who put out the flames. Don't worry about it, I burn something at least once a month," he smiled again. Tenzou smiled too glad that Kakashi didn't pursue the matter about him using wood style. When he finished the two of them slipped back into bed and for the rest of the night, Tenzou slept soundly.

The next morning, Kakashi woke to find the bed next to him was empty. The sheets and blanket were folded neatly on top of the mattress, with the pillow. He looked around, had Tenzou left? Kakashi rolled out of bed, "Tenzou?" he asked the seemingly empty apartment. He explored the apartment trying to find the boy. But every bit of the apartment seemed empty.

"Where could he have gone?" he wondered, continueing his search to the kitchen. Just as he was about to leave, he spotted a figure sitting outside on his balcony. He slid the door open and saw Tenzou staring out at the whole of Konoha.

"Tenzou?" he asked.

Tenzou looked up, "Oh, good morning, Kakashi."

"What are you doing out here, Tenzou-kun?"

Tenzou looked confused by Kakashi's sudden use of his name in that way, "I wanted to see the sunrise."

Kakashi looked up, it seemed as though he'd missed the sunrise. He sighed and just when he was about to usher Tenzou in for breakfast, the young boy spoke, "Kakashi, can you show me the village today?"

Now he was really confused, was Tenzou being serious? _How could you live in a village for ten years of life and never have seen it before?_ Tenzou took Kakashi's hesitance as a no and sighed, getting up and walking over to the apartment. He muttered, "Never mind, I'm lucky they actually let me come this far."

Kakashi blinked, _what the hell is he talking about?_ He stopped Tenzou, "No, no, no, of course I'll show you around. What makes you think I wouldn't?"

"You didn't answer right away."

"Sorry, my bad, Tenzou."

Tenzou smiled happily and after breakfast Kakashi took Tenzou out to the village with him. Luckily there was a fair that day. On the way there they met up with Minato and Rin. Rin leaned down to Tenzou and smiled, "Kakashi, who's you're new friend?"

"His name's Tenzou, the third hokage asked me to take care of him. Tenzou, this is one of my teammates, Rin." Tenzou smiled back at Rin and she laughed "He's so sweet."

During the fair, they went on some rides, bought icecream, played multiple games, one of which Kakashi was able to win Tenzou a plush stuffed animal. Tenzou couldn't remember a day in which he had more fun than this particular day. He was beaming with joy which he'd never felt before. On the way home, Kakashi gave him a piggy back ride and soon he was sound asleep. Kakashi grinned at the boy, he hadn't had this much fun in a while either. Rin smiled, "you're a great babysitter, you know that Kakashi?"

He only continued smiling, "Looks like I'll be babysitting for a long time to come." Minato smiled to himself, already, a bond had grown between the two boys, and they'd been able to ease each other's pain.


	2. Chapter 2

A few months had gone by and both Kakashi and Tenzou were noticeably less gloomy. The two practically went everywhere together, that is, as long as neither one was on a mission. However Tenzou didn't have a team of his own, so he went on missions with practically anyone who was available. Kakashi had only trained with the boy in the training grounds, however he could say that the boy was very good at his use of mokuton and he was a skilled fighter for sure.

Kakashi was coming home one day, he yawned, tired from a long mission. Rin had helped him into his apartment until he was attended by Tenzou. She smiled a the younger boy, "Hello Tenzou, how are you?"

"I'm good," he answered, still relatively shy. Rin stayed around for a while to make sure Kakashi was alright. Kakashi had fallen asleep on his couch. She watched while Tenzou busied himself in making tea for his friend and then went to sit across from Rin. Then she saw something astonishing as the young chuunin seemed to grow wood from his hand. Amazed by this, she watched as he began skillfully carving it, slowly detailing it. He kept looking over to Rin. Finally when he was done, he handed it to her, Kakashi was just waking up. She took it and stared in awe at the precision and beauty of the little wooden sculpture of herself, "Tenzou, this is beautiful. Thank you!"

Tenzou blushed and smiled. Kakashi who watched blurry eyed from sleep smiled. When Rin finally noticed that her teammate was awake she turned to attend to him, but he noticed she kept the statue tucked away neatly in her ninja pack, and then she stood up, "Don't move around too much Kakashi, and thank you Tenzou."

Tenzou nodded Kakashi did as well. Rin knew that Kakashi despised hospitals to no end. And since his injuries were hardly anything to swat at, she brought him home. He was grateful for it. She left. Kakashi smiled to the younger boy, "That was nice of you Tenzou."

Tenzou smiled back, his face reddening in embarrassment. However after lunch, a messenger hawk flew into Kakashi's patio. It pecked on the window for attention. Kakashi opened the window and it landed on his shoulder and he unraveled the scroll. The Hokage was calling for both boys this time. He wondered if he'd finally be able to be on a mission with his new-found friend. As soon as the two got to the Hokage's office he seemed sad. The elders stood in the room as well, with Danzo. Tenzou's eyebrows furrowed in what looked like disgust and he clung to Kakashi's leg. He hated the elders, they were the bane of his existence.

Kakashi felt concerned. The older woman spoke up, "Tenzou! You are a shinobi, and you hide behind another one's leg for protection? You ought to feel shame."

Kakashi glared at them. She treated him like scum and he was sure that Tenzou was not scum. His hands formed into fists. He remembered what Obito said about scum. Tenzou stepped out from behind Kakashi's leg and glared at her defiantly. The Hokage spoke, "I'm sorry Kakashi, Tenzou, it appears as though you'll have to part."

Kakashi's eyes widened, "What? But why?"

"Tenzou is a tool, and a valuable one at that, one that many rogue ninja and others outside our village would like to get their hands on. As you may have noticed, he has a valuable talent that must be kept secret, and you Hatake have hardly done any such thing," Danzo said.

He felt blood run down his hand as his nails went through his skin in anger. Ninja's may have been tools but the least they could do was treat the boy like he was a human being. He looked down at Tenzou, how could he just leave the boy in the care of these people? He didn't know how. Tenzou's head was down, his eyes looking down at the floor, Kakashi could barely make out the tear drops falling on the floor. Hiruzen looked very unhappy as well.

Kakashi put a hand on Tenzou's shoulder, but before he could say anything, the boy turned and faster than anyone realized he fled out the window of the building. All five of them were shocked.

"Tenzou!" Kakashi yelled after the boy.

It was too late, he would have to go after him. Kakashi followed suit soon without another word to the elders or the Hokage.

* * *

Sorry for the short chapter! I'll try and make the next one longer. I hope you like it so far. Reviews are appreciated!


	3. Chapter 3

Only the Lonely, Chapter 3

Tenzou leaped from rooftop to rooftop. Tears stained his cheeks, but he didn't care, he was sick of being left in the dark, he was sick of being locked up, and he wanted to keep his new found friends. He wanted to keep his new found freedom. Quickly he fled the village for the forest, he didn't know where he was going, and frankly, he didn't care either. All he wanted was to get as far away as possible.

* * *

Kakashi had trained with Tenzou numerous times, but tracking the boy down proved to be much harder. He stood atop a pole and looked around the village, trying to find the boy.

"Kakashi?" a voice called below him. It was Rin and Minato stood next to her. Both of them looked confused. He leaped down from the building, "Tenzou's fled the village. I need your help to find him."

Minato sent Rin ahead with Kakashi while he went back to the Hokage to get permission for them. Kakashi was too focused on Tenzou to remember to ask for it himself.

"Why did he flee? He seemed so happy earlier today," Rin asked.

"That was before the elders told us he had to go back and I couldn't take care of him any longer."

She blinked, "He must be heartbroken. Why don't they want you to take care of him?"

He sighed, he didn't care if Tenzou could wield mokuton, "I don't know the details, but he has the first's ability to use wood-style. That statue he made for you earlier is an example of it. The elders want to keep him locked up. They're afraid someone will try to take away his powers and use it for themselves."

"That's awful."

Kakashi nodded and then stopped, he should have thought of this earlier, as he pulled out a scroll and cut his thumb on a kunai and rubbed it across the scroll, and then put his hand in the middle, "Summoning jutsu" a small dog popped onto the branch as Kakashi rolled the scroll back up.

"What's up kid?" the little pug asked.

"Pakkun, I need you to help me track down, Tenzou."

Pakkun had met Tenzou a few times while the boy was staying with Kakashi. He knew his scent pretty well.

The little pug nodded, "Alright, try to keep up."

They followed the pug through the woods, stopping occasionally to let Pakkun find the scent again. Kakashi was surprised how far Tenzou was from the village. Finally they stopped in what seemed like a heavily tree covered area. Rin was about to continue forward but Kakashi stopped her, "Hold on, remember, he can use wood-style. In the forest, he's right at home to manipulate anything to his advantage.

"Kakashi! You're acting like he's the enemy!"

One look from Kakashi told her that she was wrong, "No, I don't want to scare him, that's all. Right now he's afraid of anyone who might cross his boundaries. We can't just go crashing in there or he'll think we're the elders."

She sighed, "I'm sorry, you're right."

"We have to go about this slowly," He turned to the woods, and yelled out, "Tenzou, it's me Kakashi and Rin's with me, please, you don't have to be afraid, we'll protect you."

Tenzou heard Kakashi's voice, in fact he saw Kakashi and Rin. He'd made a wood clone and it was hidden among the tree's watching closely and communicating with Tenzou. The clone wasn't about to take any chances though and continued to sit quietly on the branch, watching his friends. They could well be the elders using a simple transformation jutsu.

Kakashi sighed when he got no answer.

"He must be so scared."

Kakashi nodded, "Watch out for any traps, remember, he's a chuunin, he may be young but he's a formidable ninja."

She nodded and followed closely behind Kakashi as they walked along toward what seemed like a clearing where a little tiny house sat. Around the house was a little creek. Kakashi looked around more observantly. Tenzou had set up a house next to a creek so that he could harness the water from the creek in a water style jutsu. Tenzou was a very smart kid, Kakashi had to admit. He was about to walk up to the house when Tenzou leaped in front of him. Tenzou was armed with a kunai.

"How do I know you're the real Kakashi and Rin!?" he said.

Kakashi looked back at Rin who pulled the small wooden statue from her pack she handed it to Tenzou, "You gave this to me earlier today, remember?"

"Tenzou, I promise it's us. You don't have to be afraid."

Tenzou looked at the wooden statue. No one could have possibly matched it's precision. They couldn't be bluffing, and if they were, well, they would have quite the fight on their hands. He handed the statue back to Rin. Kakashi noticed that tears began to run down Tenzou's face and suddenly he ran into Kakashi and clung to him, "Kakashi, don't let them take me away! I don't want to go back! I never had a friend before!" Kakashi wrapped his arms around the boy, "I won't let them take you away. Not without a fight. I will never abandon a comrade ever again…_Obito._"

* * *

Minato stood in front of the Hokage who looked displeased with the situation and was meanwhile trying to work out a solution with the elders and Danzo.

"He will become a target for those outside the village. His powers are too rare and too valuable."

"And not to mention you broke the agreement we had."

"Agreement?" Minato cut in, "What agreement?"

"That no one was allowed to see his powers in work. Not even Kakashi. No one was to know that he possessed the power of mokuton," Danzo answered.

"I don't remember hearing anything of this sort."

"That's because I never told you," The Third Hokage said.

Minato was totally appalled, there was no way Tenzou could have kept his powers sectret if he didn't know he had to.

"In reality, we told Tenzou that it was the one thing he couldn't do if he wanted to stay with Kakashi. Even on the very first day he disregarded the agreement and used it to stop a burning stove. But we decided that perhaps it was alright if Kakashi knew, and perhaps Tenzou wouldn't use it again when we sent him a friendly reminder after Kakashi fell asleep. But then Kakashi began training with him. At first we thought he learned his lesson when he used water and earth style jutsu but when Kakashi caught him off guard he used his wood-style again we decided it was getting too serious. Kakashi urged him to use his jutsu more often and he heeded what Kakashi said. The problem Minato, was that other people began seeing it. That is when we decided it was time to get him out of the village and back into safety."

Minato kept a level head and spoke softly, "I understand your concern for Tenzou, but don't you think he's old enough to take care of himself? He's a chuunin, and he's been one since he was six. He's a genius like Kakashi. The more you devote yourselves into keeping him away from other people, the more he's going to resist, and eventually he'll get sick of it and become a rogue ninja himself. Before you gave him friends you were fine, he didn't know any better, he thought it was normal to be secluded and cut off from the rest of the world, but when you let him go and when you let him stay with Kakashi and interact with new people and finally get out into the world, you gave him a new freedom, and now it'll be hard for him to let go. At this point, it would be better to let him stay that way. Let him start making choices for himself."

Hiruzen almost clapped for Minato's elegant speech, but he knew for sure that the elders were too stuck in their old ways to listen to the younger man, the man he was thinking of naming as Hokage soon. The elders thought for a moment and for once in their lives considered what the younger man was saying. They looked at each other and whispered to one another. Finally it seemed they had made their decision. The old woman stepped up, "We are sorry Minato, but this is the only way to keep the boy safe from harm. The three of us will go find him ourselves. If you wish to join us, you may."

With that Minato sighed and watched as the three of them left. Hiruzen knew Minato was about to join them, and stopped him momentarily, "Be careful of what you do, Danzo will probably send out some of his Foundation ANBU to retrieve the boy."

"Understood," Minato nodded.


	4. Chapter 4

Only the lonely chapter 4

Three ninja wearing white masks with various markings painted on them appeared near the three children. Instantly the three of them got out weapons to fight with.

The head of the masked ninja spoke. "Tenzou, stand down and come with us."

Tenzou's eyebrows furrowed in defiance, "No, I won't go back unless I can stay with my friends."

"WE are your friends."

"No you're not, you're always trying to keep me away from everyone else, you don't care about me; all you care about is what I can do!" Out of nowhere wood began weaving its way from the earth and the branches of the trees around the ANBU began moving quickly and entangled around the three ANBU. Kakashi blinked, he hadn't seen Tenzou weave any signs of any sort…but wait…of course, this Tenzou must have been a clone. The real Tenzou was probably hidden inside the little house. The ANBU were ninja not to be trifled with though. But it seemed Tenzou knew exactly how to deal with them. He was quick on his feet weaving signs and dodging attacks at the same time. Tenzou was indeed an impressive ninja. Each ANBU went after each kid. It was a one on one attack. The one with the boar mask went after Kakashi. The other with a bird mask went after Tenzou and the last with a flat mask fought Rin. Kakashi had his hands full, as did the others. Kakashi would not use his chiddori as these were Hidden Leaf Nin but he had to figure out how to knock the one in front of him out or perhaps break a few bones…like his arms and hands so he couldn't perform hand seals. Kakashi got ready to use his newest addition, his sharingan. He lifted up the headband to reveal the red eye and the revolving black center circle. The enemy spoke, "So, you're the new kid we've been hearing about, Sharingan Kakashi. This ought to be interesting, but let me ask you this before we begin, why are you helping him?"

Kakashi stood silently and then leaned forward for his attack position, "Because someone once told me, that if you abandon your comrades, you're scum."

"Wait! Everyone stop!"

They did, Kakashi blinked, it was Minato sensei. Rin came up behind him, "it could be a clone using the transformation jutsu."

"My sharingan shows that he's the real thing. It's alright, we're safe."

Minato came forward to the three children. Tenzou didn't believe it and held his kunai up. Kakashi put a hand on the younger boy's shoulder, "He's here to help us, don't worry."

Tenzou stared suspiciously at Minato, and then carefully placed the knife back into his ninja pack. He came forward as Minato indicated.

"I have a plan, but Tenzou you'll have to be patient. The best the elders will let us get away with is for you to be taken care of until you become a full jounin. After that, you're home free; they'll let you do whatever you want with your life. How is that?"

Tenzou looked down and thought it over, "It sounds fine."

Minato sensei smiled, as did Kakashi, "You're already a chunin, and an exceptional ninja, passing the jounin exams should be a cinch for you Tenzou."

"I hope so," he said. Minato turned to the ANBU ninja, "It's alright; he's coming back to the village with us."

"Alright, we'll follow behind you."

Before they went, Kakashi tapped Tenzou onto the shoulder, "That means the real you needs to come out."

Tenzou nodded and the young ninja retracted the house on the little island and came forward. He retracted the clone as well and sighed following Minato between Kakashi and Rin. He wondered if the elders would really let him do that, but then smiled to himself; well at least by then he'd be able to take them down if he really wanted to.

He smiled to himself. When they passed the gates of Konoha they quickly ran up to the Hokage office, where the ordeal had started. The hokage and the elders all sat in the same room again. Tenzou glared menacingly at them. Minato presented them with his proposal:

"By then he'll be able to defend himself. Please, even if you do keep him locked up he'll escape, and next time he'll be even more powerful and I doubt you want that sort of trouble in your hands. If you let him live his own life, he'll be serving the village loyally as he should and not turn against it."

The elders considered it. The old man and woman were the first to speak, "Alright, we shall continue to watch over him until he becomes a jounin, until then, he will remain under our care."

Minato turned to the young boy, "What do you say Tenzou?"

Tenzou decided that he really didn't have a choice. It just meant he'd have to become a jounin as soon as possible, he nodded. Minato, Kakashi and Rin smiled. Before Kakashi left him Tenzou took the older boy's hand, "Will I see you again?"

Kakashi nodded, "I promise. Tenzou…thank you."

They shook hands and Tenzou watched them go wondering what Kakashi was thanking him for.


End file.
